Austria Germany News Western Europe

Zentralrat on Austria

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Zentralrat on Austria

The Chairman of the German Central Council of Sinti and Roma, Romani Rose, pointed out that the National Socialists called on the population in 1933 not to buy from Jews and had police and SS troops march in front of Jewish businesses. He was criticising a letter by the Austrian police of the Burgenland warning the population about Sinti and Roma.

Rose appealed to Interior Minister Karner of the Austrian People’s Party (ÖVP) to initiate disciplinary proceedings against those responsible within the police force. He emphasized that the Council of Europe’s Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities entered into force in Austria in 1998. This obligates the state to counteract all forms of anti-Gypsyism. The Central Council stated that the Europe-wide rise of nationalist forces, which often base their political program on racism and incitement and have now become the strongest political force in Austria, is alarming.

Austria News Western Europe

Austria, the Police, and Roma

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Austria, the Police, and Roma

The Austrian Equal Treatment Commission criticized a letter issued by the Burgenland police authority in Neusiedl on Friday, in which the police warned the population about Roma and Sinti. The letter, the Commissioner argued, perpetuates historical anti-Roma stereotypes. The letter’s instruction not to accept services from members of this ethnic group could constitute an incitement to discrimination, emphasized Sandra Konstatzky, head of the Equal Treatment Commission.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Roma Funds in Slovakia

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Roma Funds in Slovakia

After the 2023 elections, Prime Minister Robert Fico (Smer) appointed loyal party member Alexander Daško as the plenipotentiary for Roma communities to decide on the redistribution of money for projects. Daško was given significant authority to gradually decide on the use of approximately 430 million euros out of the total billion that the European Union has allocated to support Roma in Slovakia until 2027. The remaining money is distributed by the ministries of labor, education, and health.

Now he is losing this, and the funds will be managed by the head of the Government Office, Juraj Gedra.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Croatian Roma Funds

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Croatian Roma Funds

The Croatian state has published the list of recipoients of the 380’000 Euros allocated to Roma in the country.

  1. ​Roma Association in Croatia “KALI SARA” (Zagreb): 238,000 euros (over 60% of the total budget)
  2. ​Roma Resource Center (Darda): 58,900 euros
  3. Roma Women’s Association “Bolja Budućnost” (Zagreb): 27,000 euros
  4. Roma National Forum Association (Beli Manastir): 21,500 euros

​The funds are intended for information, publishing, culture and events such as the “World Romani Language Day” or the commemoration of the suffering of the Roma in World War II (Samudaripen).

The article bemoans the lack of fund in the Međimurje region.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Khamoro Festival

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Khamoro Festival

The already traditional international Khamoro festival presents the best of Roma culture from around the world. Visitors can look forward to concerts, an accompanying program and meetings with prominent figures of the Roma music and art scene.

The festival brings a diverse mix of genres from traditional Roma music to modern projects and offers a unique opportunity to experience the richness of Roma culture in the heart of Prague.

Austria Hungary News Eastern Europe News Western Europe

Burgtheater Vienna

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Burgtheater Vienna

A theater director is commissioned by the Burgtheater Vienna to stage a play by and with Roma actors. He promptly decides to use the real-life biographies of the participants for his piece and has a house from their village dismantled into 3,000 individual pieces in order to rebuild it on the stage of the Akademietheater. Audience and press eagerly anticipate the extraordinary production and hope for maximum authenticity.

Czech Republic News Eastern Europe

Commemoration in Lety

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Commemoration in Lety

On Sunday, 10 May 2026 at 12:00 CET, the annual commemoration will be held to honour the memories of the victims of what was once a Roma concentration camp in Lety u Písku. The Event is organized by the Committee for the Redress of the Roma Holocaust in the Czech Republic (VPORH) with the support of the Czech Culture Ministry and the Foundation for Holocaust Victims.

Hungary News Eastern Europe

Magyar Swear-In Ceremony

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Magyar Swear-In Ceremony

A defintively outraged view of the upcoming Peter Magyar inauguration on May 9th. The issue, the anthems that will be played. Of course the Hungarian one, the one from the Szeklers (Hungarians from Transylvania), the the European Hymn (not so good), and then the Roma antherm. The article questions the existence of a “Gypsy Anthem”, which they claim is not known in Hungary – well 10% of the population definitively knows it. According to this diatribe, this is controversial as it can fuel “racial division”…

News Eastern Europe North Macedonia

Condemned!

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Condemned!

North Macedonia’s Commission for Prevention & Protection against Discrimination has issued a decision against Councillor Ljube Temelkov, finding that his call for Roma to be “forbidden from voting” constitutes unlawful harassment.

Bulgaria Montenegro News Eastern Europe

Arranged Marriages

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Arranged Marriages

An article on the still existing practice of arranges marrianges among Roma in Montenegro. Apparently, 17 cases of human trafficking were recorded in this context between 2020 and 2026 by the police.

The tradition of paying for the bride only exists among Vlach Roma and is probably due to the prevalence of slavery agianst Roma in Romanian lands. The owner of the bride had to be compensated.

Bosnia News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Yugoslav Wars

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Yugoslav Wars

An interesting  article about Roma victims of the Bosnian war. Among the victims in Srebrenica were also Roma, but this is not recorded, because, like in other parts of the world, Roma also took on local names.

Human rights lawyer Lejla Hadžimesić talks about what went wrong, so that the process of reconciliation and dealing with the past in Bosnia and Herzegovina stopped years ago and started the journey back. She cites Milorad Dodik’s speech about secession fifteen years ago as a turning point. She sees this situation as the reason why it was (only) three decades after the war that the space for researching Roma victims opened up, which she herself is also involved in.

News Eastern Europe Slovenia

Protest

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Protest

The association Vstani romski otrok in Slovenia is announcing a rally on the Glavni trg in Novo mesto on Tuesday afternoon, with which they will express their disagreement with the confiscation of social benefits due to the so-called Šutar Act. They are expecting between 100 and 300 Roma, who will also present the hardships that some have found themselves in due to the foreclosures.

Germany News Eastern Europe News Western Europe Slovenia

Award

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Award

The GoShorts program selected six short films that open up space for questions of power and empowerment – of collectives and individuals. Among them was Kismet by Novo Mesto director Žiga Virc, who received the RheinMain Award. It is the sotory of a 11 years old Romni.

News Eastern Europe Serbia

Žarko Jovanović – musician and Roma activist

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Žarko Jovanović – musician and Roma activist

In the weekly Sveta Roma, they talk about Žarko Jovanović Jagdin – a Roma musician, composer and activist who left his mark on the history of the Roma.

May he rest in peace.

News Eastern Europe Slovakia

Slovakia, Police, and Roma

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Slovakia, Police, and Roma

A deaf Rom was locked up in a police detention cell in Slovakia for 48 hours without water and without knowing why, says Tomáš Dunko from the organization Svet ticha, who was then called to the police department to interpret into sign language.

Tomáš Dunko is a deaf Rom who strives to help marginalized communities, especially people with hearing impairments there. He says that not only in the area of ​​criminal or administrative law, there is enormous injustice for hearing-impaired Roma, bordering on human rights violations.

France News Western Europe

French Chronicle …

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French Chronicle …

A long article in the French Le Monde on the Genocide of the Roma during the Holocaust, and the fact that the French are relatively silent about it. Why are they still using “Tsiganes”?

Other news are more of the usual. An article about the so-called insertion vilalge near Nantes, in Western France; a neighbourhood in Lille is unhappy with a Roma camp; and a fire in Montpellier.

Croatia News Eastern Europe

Ustaša Murder

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Ustaša Murder

Max Bamberger was a violinist. He traveled with a Sinti circus and entertained people. He, his wife and two children were victims of a massacre on 24 and 25 April 1945, not far from the Croatian-Slovenian border, in the village of Hrastina near Marija Gorica. One of the most horrific Ustasha crimes against Roma committed in the NDH. It was perhaps the last mass crime against the Roma and Sinti on the territory of occupied Europe during World War II. This crime was committed by one of the Ustasha units from Jasenovac, namely the 1st Ustaški obrabeni zdrug, the so-called Luburićevci.

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